We had some excitement in May with David's unexpected foot surgery. He had been hurting for several months and finally went to the doctor to get it checked out. It turns out, he had a tumor growing in the joint where is big toe meets his foot. The doctor was very concerned about how quickly the tuomr had grown and wanted to take it out right away. Surgery didn't go quite as expected: they ended up having to put David completely under, rather than just giving him drugs to make him sleepy--he was twitching too much and they couldn't get him to be still. Also, the doctor had to make a larger cut than he inteneded because the tumor was actually entertwined in David's tendon! Recovery has been tough, and David is still in quite a bit of pain. I'm not sure it will ever go away. And, thankfully, the tumor wasn't cancerous. They aren't exactly sure what the tumor is made of, but we are so thankful he's going to be okay!
Let's see...what else. Grayson is growing up so fast and is now all little boy. I have to remind myself sometimes that he's still a baby (he's not even 2!) but it's hard to remember that when he's a walking, talking ball of energy. In the past month, we have gotten rid of his foo-foo! He was starting to become waaaaaaay too attached to his foo-foo (wanting it at other times than just sleeping, steeling Finnley's foo-foos, not going to sleep until he had it), and we decided it was time for it to go. So, one night, I told him they all went bye-bye and that was that. He hasn't even really asked for it since then. I think he was ready for it to go, too. He has also started sleeping in his big boy bed! David happened to find a really awesome firetruck bed on Craigslist, and we just couldn't pass it up. We decided to go ahead and get it. Our plan was to just put it in Grayson's room so he could get used to it, but not push him to sleep in it until he was ready. Well, he was ready! He slept in it the very first night! Since then, he had several nights where he wouldn't fall asleep in it--he would come to the door and sleep by the door. We would go in each night after he fell asleep and put him back in the bed. I thought he was doing it because he had a hard time adjusting, but I think he was getting hot. One of his teachers mentioned that maybe he was sleeping there because he could feel the air coming in from under there--so, I started really blowing the cool air into his room, and he hasn't had any more trouble since!
And now, for some serious stuff:
Having two kids is harder than I ever thought it would be, but it's also so rewarding. To be completely honest, I fail at it each and every day. There is always someone in the house who is unhappy, whether it is one of the kids, me, or David. And, poor David. He has had to put up with so much...I have become one of those textbook naggy wives that I swore I would never be, and he has the patience of a saint to deal with me sometimes. Being so overwhelmed has certainly changed our relationship, and we have had to work at it more than we ever have before. Don't get me wrong, we love each other unconditionally and I am confident we always will, but it is so hard to not take out our daily frustrations on each other--that's definitely something I stuggle with every minute. More often than not, I find myself just completely avoiding things that need to be done, whether it's paper work for my job, cleaning the house, folding laundry, even getting out to spend time with friends. Instead, I take every spare minute to sit down for a second a rest. I know that this time will pass, and one day I will miss it like crazy--but if I look like a frazzled deer in headlights for a while, at least you know why!
On top of it all, Grayson is going through a stage right now where he is almost never happy. He is always whining or crying about something, and sometimes he is completly unconsolible. Our normally happy and carefree little boy has become a virtual whirlwind of unhappiness. Yesterday, I took him to the doctor because he was up most of the night screaming, and he had even started banging his head against the floor, the doors, and the walls! The doctor checked him out thoroughly and determined that it was all because his 2 year molars are coming in. I am hoping that's all it really is. Poor guy--I know he's hurting. He has also moved up to the 2 year old class at his school. He is the youngest one in the class, but his teachers (and David and I) all knew he was ready. I think he's more tired than he's used to being after a day from school. After all, those big kids play hard!!
There has been more than one occassion in which Grayson is crying and Finnley is screaming and David and I just look at each other and start yelling, too. Other times, we just have to laugh. I love that our kiddos are so close in age, but life certainly has become one long test of survival.
David and I are committed to having as much fun with our kids as possible. We want them to remember their childhood with fondness--not that Mommy and Daddy were working all the time or worried about other things and couldn't spend time with them. So, each week, we try to do at least one big fun activity. It might be something simple like walking up to the pool, going to the park, or going out to eat. Sometimes, it's bigger things like going to the Children's Museum, the Zoo, or to play on the choo-choos. A couple weeks ago, we decided to take the kids to Mud Island to play in the riverwalk. We had a great time! Grayson loved walking in the water, and Finnley was just happy to be out so she could people watch!
I will leave you with a video of the sweetest sound in the whole world:
I guess that's it for now. I promise I will do my best to update this more regularly. As always, thank you for checking in! We love you all!
